Snow

[Cataboo]

Catriona, gorgeous pictures! And I had no idea you were so close to me; I'm just down the road!

:: pondering the area to figure out where the woods and nature center are ::

Thanks - that's actually near the BF's house. We were arguing whose house to get snowed in at, he won 'cause they were supposed to get more snow over there.

*grump*

But I'm over there fairly often and do end up mountain biking or road biking around there.

Even though I HATE road biking on Brigg's Chaney. New Hampshire or Georgia don't bother me for some reason.

[owlice]

I rode on Briggs Chaney decades ago, when I was on a bike ride with a friend of mine from high school -- we were in college by then -- and it's a good thing he was a stronger rider than I, because if I'd caught up with him, I'd probably still be serving time for his murder. It was an extremely dangerous road to be on, one-lane bridge and all, in addition to it being a bit on the challenging side for me, AND it was a blasting hot day. It didn't help that we started the ride at his house, which means I had ridden over there from my house.

So we finally get to what he thought our turnaround point should be... the parking lot overlooking the old country club's swimming pool, which we couldn't enter, of course. He lived because my hands didn't have the strength to wring his neck. Plus, I had no idea where we were nor how to get back to familiar territory.

Of course we had no water with us; my road bike, a hand-me-down from my older brother, didn't even have a cage. Boy, did that pool look inviting! Boy, was I wishing for more strength in my hands!

Looking back on this, I can't believe I did such a ride. (I can say that about every ride I took with him, though that particular one really does strike me as unbelievable, and not just because we both lived through it.) I was an occasional rider only. Even with the improvements since then on Briggs Chaney, there are only parts of the road I'd consider riding on now (those parts bordering my community).

Wow. Memory dump. Sorry!

(The bike was the Panasonic "Bu!!sh!t" bike I finally gave away through Freecycle three or four years ago. I've since seen the bike parked at the Greenbelt Metro; it's quite distinctive!)

[Cataboo]

Looking back on this, I can't believe I did such a ride. (I can say that about every ride I took with him, though that particular one really does strike me as unbelievable, and not just because we both lived through it.) I was an occasional rider only. Even with the improvements since then on Briggs Chaney, there are only parts of the road I'd consider riding on now (those parts bordering my community).

ha. I should ask you if perhaps you were riding with R. I can describe a lot of my rides with im like that. Did you go to Sandy Springs Friends for high school, by any chance?

If I ride out from his house, I end up starting off the ride on a long slow uphill on Briggs Chaney that I absolutely hate, while sucking down exhaust fumes. So basically from a bit before Peach Orchard all the way up to New Hampshire. Of course, I wouldn't ride the other way on Briggs Chaney to do the stretch from 29 to whatever that road it ends on at all.

[owlice]

Ah! Maydale. Catriona, yes, it's easy to get lost in those woods. That's farther west on Briggs Chaney than the ride that could have landed me in the big doll house.

Someday-soon-ex-husband and I took a nice long walk in those woods one day a couple of years ago and ended up not only completely lost, but eventually out on a street that was completely unfamiliar to us. We had to ask the driver of a passing car where we were and which direction we should walk to get back to Maydale. I took pictures of milkweed beetles that day; pretty cool-looking bugs.

Maydale has very nice nature programs for children. I remember mucking around in the creek while a bunch of kids, one of them mine, were pulling up stones and catching all sorts of things to show the naturalist running the program.

And no, I didn't go to Sandy Springs Friends! I went to a public high school in PG County. And that stretch from 29 to where Briggs Chaney deadends (into Old Gunpowder) is exactly the stretch of road that inspired my murderous thoughts!

[ny biker]

Holy cow, I drove into DC tonight. I was shocked at how many streets were unplowed. What the hell have they been doing for three days? And this was in Foggy Bottom/West End, which is a business district.

Luckily my little Prius was up to the task.

p.s. I'm loving all these photos.